Colleague had her iphone 4 stolen this morning - phoned O2 and got a block put on it until she was definitely sure it was gone. After reviewing CCTV it is clear that it was stolen, so phoned O2 again and they barred the phone.
She tried accessing the location via icloud but the time shown ie 2 hours ago, was when she got the phone barred. I assume with hindsight if she hadn't got the phone barred she may have better chance of tracing it? She used the same thing to check her ipad and it shows up clearly on the map where she lives!
O2 have assured her that the phone is now useless and will never be able to be used again as a phone - I find that hard to belive that the lowlife don't have a way round this?
O2 also suggested it might turn up in a cash converters type place but when they try to reclaim it they wil be refused - again doesn't sound right.
Any thoughts / experiences??
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Something rings a bell (ho-ho) from a previous thread that the phone can be made useless in this country, but can be made to work somewhere abroad.
Thus some are nicked for export.
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>> Thus some are nicked for export.
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Yep. they regularly catch folk here with a suitcase full of phones, heading for West Africa.
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>>the phone is now useless and will never be able to be used again as a phone
They're pretty much correct. It is blocked via the IMEI. Changing the IMEI is possible, but really hard, frequently involves a chip change and always requires significant software.
(Do not confuse unlocking an IMEI and unblocking an IMEI, where unlocking is frequentlly how people refer to SIM unlocks.)
However, it is not neccessarily blocked for all carriers worldwide.
But hte point is, its not been stolen by some international gang who would care whether it works or not, its probably some guy who'll flog it down the pub for a fiver and consider it a result.
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Makes you wonder if it would have been better to cancel the SIM and pass details of phone to police so it could be traced? They'd be too busy.
If the phone's IMEI was not barred, it might have been possible to locate it when someone puts in a new micro SIM.
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The problem is that then proving the person knew it was stolen is tough, so pretty much the only possible result is the retrieval of a secondhand phone.
Better to make it worthless and forget it. (Where "better" means financially easier for the operators).
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>>Makes you wonder if it would have been better to cancel the SIM and pass details of phone to police so it could be traced? They'd be too busy.
Noticed in one of these Police Interceptor type programmes last week that the police traced a stolen iphone by getting a running commentary from the owner via icloud (assuming it was this method anyway).
Was stolen from a bag in a changing room and they tracked it to its location, watched the people in that street and when it moved again they were able to determine who it was that had it. Daresay would be a different story if it was within a house rather than someone just walking down the street.
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Unless Apple have changed their policy, until very recently they were automatically replacing a damaged iphone which was in the warranty period without checks or proof of ownership. The idea was to make life easier if you broke your phone. This meant iphones were a favourite target of thieves, who could take them, break them and get a brand new phone, no questions asked.
Incidentally, Apple made it a condition to the providers ie O2, that they must unlock any iphone, even a new one, without charge. You ring the provider and ask for it to be unlocked, they then send you a code to key into the phone and it will be unlocked within two weeks. You log onto itunes to find when it has happened.
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>> O2 have assured her that the phone is now useless and will never be able to be used again as a phone - I find that hard to belive that the lowlife don't have a way round this?
Definitely it can be used outside Europe.
Even if you remove phone functionality, it can still act as iPod.
I wonder how exactly networks bar an IMEI. Do all the phones always broadcast their IMEI?
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The IMEI will be involved in connecting to the network - so a banned one cannot connect.
As you say a banned device might not work in Europe but probably will outside.
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Has he tried Apple's "Find my phone" to see if the low life involved still has it switched on?
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>> Has he tried Apple's "Find my phone" to see if the low life involved still has it switched on?
That will only work if the iPhone has been configured to "find me"
And if the screen isn't locked with a PIN code, it can be disabled in the settings menu, or by simply just turning off the phone and never turn it on again with the same SIM card fitted.
I've recently found out how to stop anyone disabling the Find Me settings if the phone is stolen with the screen unlocked.
thenextweb.com/lifehacks/2010/12/31/keep-thevies-from-disabling-find-my-iphone-with-three-steps/
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Stolen iphone 4 - tracking / resale? - Iffy
